
If you’ve done any research on goal setting, you’ll probably have come across the term SMART goals. If you want to have a good chance at achieving your goals, you should make sure that your goals are all SMART goals. Having SMART goals will help make sure that you’re on the right path, and will lead you towards accomplishing your goals.
What Are SMART Goals?
Setting a goal doesn’t always mean that you’ll achieve it unfortunately. There are usually a lot of challenges that can stand in your way, no matter what the goal. The goal setting process is a necessary step that involves the creation of SMART goals and the development of a clear plan to achieve these goals.
By constructing our goals carefully, we can see where we need to focus our resources and efforts, motivate ourselves regularly, and work diligently to achieve our aims.
To ensure the creation of clear and powerful goals that will move us forward consistently, our goals need to conform to SMART guidelines.
SMART is an acronym for:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Timely
To determine how effective our goals actually are, they need to be checked for adherence to the SMART criteria. Now, what do each of these actually mean?
S stands for Specific
It’s not enough to know what you want. In the goal-setting process, you need to create a map to guide and direct your actions towards what you want. Goals need to be very specific.
Otherwise, you risk losing time and valuable resources doing everything you can, only to realize much later that you have missed hitting the mark because you were too broad or vague in your goal setting. Being specific means including sufficient details to guide you in reaching your goals.
For example, saying that you want to write a book isn’t very specific. To satisfy this part of the requirement, you’d need to come up with a specific number of words. Are you going to write a 10,000 word book, or a 100,000 word book? And while we’re here, what’s the topic on? If you say that you want to write a book on email marketing that’s 50,000 words, now that is specific. As long as you are specific, then you can move on to the next section.
M stands for Measurable
Another important criterion that needs to be met is that it needs to be measurable. If you don’t have this, you won’t know when you need to have the goal done by. You won’t be able to tell when you are halfway there, or if you’re getting close at all.
By setting the time frame you can easily set achievable milestones every month or pre-determined period to track your progress. This will help you see if you are on track or if you need to work harder.
In the example above, you’ve decided you want to write a book about email marketing that’s 50,000 words. To be able to measure this, when do you want to do this by? Do you want to accomplish this in a year, or in 6 months? You’ll have to decide what is most realistic for you.
A stands for Achievable
Your goal needs to be achievable. Achievable goals confirm that change can take place, movement will happen, and progress is possible. There is a certainty that you can make it. For a goal to become achievable, you may need to take into consideration the actual steps you need to take to accomplish your goal.
Additionally, you may also consider possible issues or problems that can come up that will limit your actions. In this step, you can be as resourceful and creative as you want.
Consider which tools, skills and assets you can use to your advantage, and which weaknesses you will work on so they will not hamper your progress.
In the example above, so far the goal is to write a 50,000 word book on email marketing in 6 months. Here you need to break down the goal into smaller, achievable steps. Will you write 2,000 words per week? Will you have 25,000 words done by the end of month 3? This helps you know where you need to be, and to see if you’re moving towards your goal and have a chance of reaching it at the timeframe you’d like.
R stands for Relevant
A powerful goal is relevant, which means it is aligned with your purpose. It is significant enough to you that you will do whatever it takes to make it possible. Without this element in your goal, it’s too easy to get sidetracked and lose focus.
After all, there are so many other goals you could work on, so which is of greater importance? Knowing how relevant your goal is to you increases the likelihood of its achievement. Relevant goals will often validate our mission and long-term vision.
Going back to our example, is writing a 50,000 word book on email marketing relevant to you? Well, if you want to be known as an expert in email marketing, then yes, this would be a very relevant goal. If you want people to be able to go to Amazon and find you when they type in email marketing books, then this is relevant. If instead you want to be known as a copywriter, then this goal isn’t very relevant and you may want to rethink it.
T stands for Timely
Time is often our most limited resource in achieving goals. Goals need to be time-bound, as it creates the necessary pressure and sense of urgency to move us forward. When you plan on doing something, always associate a timeline or deadline to it.
To increase the likelihood of success in your goals, you need to have the certainty that it can be achieved within a certain timeframe. If you choose a crazy timeframe because you wish it would be done by then, that won’t help you in the long run. You need to make sure that it is realistic that you can get the goal done in the timeframe.
One again using the example goal from above, when will you start this 50,000 word book, and when will you finish it by? Saying 6 months alone is not a good goal, because you don’t have an exact date. You aren’t saying when you’ll start it, so the 6 months later could be any time. To make it timely, you could say that you’re going to start it tomorrow, and be done exactly 6-months from that date. Or you’re going to start it on July 1st, and complete the book by December 31st. Now the goal is timely, and you know when you need to finish it by.
Another Example of a SMART Goal
In case that first one wasn’t helpful enough, here’s a second one.
Compare the vague “to make enough money” with “to earn $10,000 per month by December 31st.”
Let’s check out the second one against the SMART criteria.
To Earn $10,000 per month by December 31st.
The above goal is very specific. You know that you want to earn $10,000 per month. This gives you the minimum amount of money that you’ll want to earn each month.
It is measurable as well, as you can check at any time how much money you’re earning per month. It can also be checked at regular, and pre-determined intervals.
Whether it is achievable or not is something that you’ll have to decide. If you haven’t made any money at all yet, then it might not be achievable. But if you’ve consistently made let’s say $7,000 per month, then it may be achievable for you. If it isn’t a realistic number for you, then go back and adjust it so that it is.
Relevant? As everyone need to earn money to survive, it is definitely relevant. If you want to pay your bills and have a place to live, it’s relevant.
The goal is made time-bound or timely by the inclusion of a date for the achievement.
The first vague goal provides little incentive to keep working towards the goal. It is most likely that nothing will have changed in the future, and the goal will not be met.
Changing the goal to a SMART goal will provide a framework that will help maintain focus and the incentive to continue working to achieve the goal.
While there may still be issues and complications that come up, you now have a much clearer path on how you’ll reach your goals.
Enjoy,